Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders are widely used in fields such as transport (ticketing, road tolling, baggage tagging), finance (debit and credit cards, electronic purse, merchant card), and tracking (access control, inventory management, asset tracking) RFID transponders are for example proximity integrated circuit cards (PICCs) as defined in the standard ISO14443.
The international standard ISO14443 is an important industry standard for contactless smart cards. ISO14443-compliant products such as MIFARE provide radio frequency communication technology for transmitting data between transponders and reader devices. An example of a reader device is a Proximity Coupling Device (PCD) as defined in the standard ISO14443.
For example, in electronic ticketing for public transport, travelers wave their PICC over a reader device at the turnstiles or entry points, benefiting from improved convenience and speed in the ticketing process. Such products are set to be the key to individual mobility in the future, supporting multiple applications including road tolling, airline tickets, access control and many more. High-end RFID transponders—such as smart cards—are typically used for applications with high security requirements, while simpler RFID transponders—such as so-called RFID tags—are low-cost oriented. Therefore, RFID tags are useful for applications with lower security requirements.
Normally, low-cost RFID tags do not have authentication capabilities based on secure encryption methods, such as methods based on the Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) or the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Therefore, these low-cost RFID tags have only limited means to prevent their massive cloning.
Typically, the authentication (proof of originality) of RFID tags is based on checking specific characteristics of those tags, for example by analyzing the timing behavior of specific operations or by searching for hidden features on the tags. A drawback of this approach is that those characteristics and features may be discovered and replicated by a third party attempting to clone the tags. Another drawback is that new versions or generations of the same tags do not necessarily have those specific characteristics and features, because they are typically not part of the maintained product functionalities and they are sometimes not reproducible, for example because the new versions or generations of the tags are normally based on newer semiconductor technologies, which result in different electrical properties.
The cloning of RFID tags is harmful for all companies that provide genuine RFID solutions, because it decreases their revenue and, as a result, it slows down the return on their investments. It also destroys the public image of RFID technology as a secure technology. Therefore, it is important that RFID tag manufacturers are able to reduce such cloning.